A Multistate Friction Model for the Compensation of the Asymmetric Hysteresis in the Mechanical Response of Pneumatic Artificial Muscles

These days, biomimetic and compliant actuators have been made available to the main applications of rehabilitation and assistive robotics. In this context, the interaction control of soft robots, mechatronic surgical instruments and robotic prostheses can be improved through the adoption of pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs), a class of compliant actuators that exhibit some similarities with the structure and function of biological muscles. Together with the advantage of implementing adaptive compliance control laws, the nonlinear and hysteretic force/length characteristics of PAMs pose some challenges in the design and implementation of tracking control strategies. This paper presents a parsimonious and accurate model of the asymmetric hysteresis observed in the force response of PAMs. The model has been validated through the experimental identification of the mechanical response of a small-sized PAM where the asymmetric effects of hysteresis are more evident. Both the experimental results and a comparison with other dynamic friction models show that the proposed model could be useful to implement efficient compensation strategies for the tracking control of soft robots

Topology optimization of 3D compliant actuators by a sequential element rejection and admission method

This work presents a sequential element rejection and admission (SERA) method for optimum topology design of three dimensional compliant actuators. The proposed procedure has been successfully applied to several topology optimization problems, but most investigations for compliant devices design have been focused on planar systems. This investigation aims to progress on this line, where a generalization of the method for three dimensional topology optimization is explored. The methodology described in this work is useful for the synthesis of high performance flexure based micro and nano manipulation applications demanding for both sensing and control of motion and force trajectories. In this case the goal of the topology optimization problem is to design an actuator that transfers work from the input point to the output port in a structurally efficient way. Here we will use the classical formulation where the displacement performed on a work piece modelled by a spring is maximized. The technique implemented works with two separate criteria for the rejection and admission of elements to efficiently achieve the optimum design and overcomes problems encountered by other evolutionary methods when dealing with compliant mechanisms design. The use of the algorithm is demonstrated through several numerical examples

Compliant actuators that mimic biological muscle performance with applications in a highly biomimetic robotic arm

This paper endeavours to bridge the existing gap in muscular actuator design for ligament-skeletal-inspired robots, thereby fostering the evolution of these robotic systems. We introduce two novel compliant actuators, namely the Internal Torsion Spring Compliant Actuator (ICA) and the External Spring Compliant Actuator (ECA), and present a comparative analysis against the previously conceived Magnet Integrated Soft Actuator (MISA) through computational and experimental results. These actuators, employing a motor-tendon system, emulate biological muscle-like forms, enhancing artificial muscle technology. A robotic arm application inspired by the skeletal ligament system is presented. Experiments demonstrate satisfactory power in tasks like lifting dumbbells (peak power: 36W), playing table tennis (end-effector speed: 3.2 m/s), and door opening, without compromising biomimetic aesthetics. Compared to other linear stiffness serial elastic actuators (SEAs), ECA and ICA exhibit high power-to-volume (361 x 10^3 W/m) and power-to-mass (111.6 W/kg) ratios respectively, endorsing the biomimetic design's promise in robotic development